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Upper Eocene Beetle - Green River Shale


glacialerratic

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I collected this beetle several years ago, but have never gotten a proper ID. The length is 2cm.

Any input is appreciated!

Positive, wet:

post-9685-0-34850800-1361667584_thumb.jpg

Negative, dry:

post-9685-0-15667500-1361667665_thumb.jpg

post-9685-0-60658000-1361667721_thumb.jpg

post-9685-0-61081100-1361667769_thumb.jpg

Thanks for looking!

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Tim... I agree with jpc.... Very detailed really... It should be able to ID it with the right reference material...

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Thanks for the comments!

If anyone knows any good reference material or papers on Eocene insects, please let me know!

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Hi Tim,

Lovely fossil! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to pin down an identification for you yet. The problem stems with the preservation. While it is a very nice specimen there are a number of beetle families that resemble it and the fine details needed to separate them are not well preserved. Initially I thought the design on the elytra was a preserved color pattern but I'm skeptical now. The coloration is inverted in the positive and negative suggesting to me that those sections simply separated differently in the splitting. If the pattern is real it may be a Cerambycid as they can have patterns like that. If not, I'd lean towards Tenebrionidae. That's the best I can do right now but I'll keep working on it ... I love a good challenge.



"They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things."

-- Terry Pratchett

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AgrilusHunter,

thanks for the ID leads.... gives me something to look into. I'll take a look at the wing pattern a little closer to try and see if there is any separation apparent.

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